Proceedings of the citizens of Madison, Wisconsin, on occasion of the death of Henry Clay, with an eulogy / by J.H. Lathrop, delivered in the capitol, July 19, 1852. Lathrop, J. H., (John Hiram) 400dpi TIFF G4 page images University of Kentucky, Electronic Information Access & Management Center Lexington, Kentucky 2002 b92-88-27380105 Electronic reproduction. 2002. (Beyond the shelf, serving historic Kentuckiana through virtual access (IMLS LG-03-02-0012-02) ; These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Proceedings of the citizens of Madison, Wisconsin, on occasion of the death of Henry Clay, with an eulogy / by J.H. Lathrop, delivered in the capitol, July 19, 1852. Lathrop, J. H., (John Hiram) Atwood & Buck, Madison : 1852. 34 p. ; 23 cm. Coleman Microfilm. Atlanta, Ga. : SOLINET, 1993. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (SOLINET/ASERL Cooperative Microfilming Project (NEH PS-20317) ; SOL MN02922.01 KUK) Printing Master B92-88. IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. Clay, Henry, 1777-1852. PROCEEDINGS OF TIIE CITIZENS OF MADISON, WISCONSIN, ON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF HENRY CLAY, WITH AN EULOGY BY J. R. LATHROP, L.LID., CHANCELLOR OF WISCONSIN UNIVERSITY, DELIVERED IN THE CAPITOL, JULY 19, 1852. MADISON: PRINTED BY ATWOOD BUCK. 1852. I I I II I I I I I II II I II I I I I I I I II II I I II I I I II I I I I This page in the original text is blank. PROCEEDINGS. UPON receiving the sad intelligence of the death of our great Statesman, HENRY CLAY, the citizens of Madison, the Capital of Wisconsin, convened at the Court House, desirous of expressing, in an appropriate manner, their sorrow at this great national calamity, and uniting their voices in the general lamentation and mourning, which is heard throughout our common country, at the sorrowful dispensation of Divine Providence, Resolved, That a Committee of five be appointed to select some suitable person to deliver an Eulogy upon the Life and Character of the late HENRY CLAY. with authority to call a meeting for that purpose, and to make such other arrangements as they may deem proper. The following gentlemen were appointed a Committee to make the necessary arrangements for the occasion: WM. N. SEYMOUR N. B. EDDY, DAVID ATWOOD, J. T. CLARK and B. F. HOPKINS. Messrs. A. L. COLLINS, JOHN CATLIN and JOHN Y. SMITH, were appointed a Committee to draft suitable resolutions. The committee of arrangements extended the following invita- tation to Chancellor LATHROP to deliver the Eulogy on the occa- sion: MADISON, July 3, 1852. Chancellor LATHROP, Lear Sir-At a meeting of the citizens of Madison, held last evening, the following resolution was adopted; to wit: " Resolved, That a Committee of five be appointed to select some suita- ble person to deliver an Eulogy upon the Life and Character of the late HENRY CLAY, with authority to call a meeting for that purpose, and to make such other arrangements as they may deem proper." In accordance with this resolution, the undersigned were appointed said Committee; and at a meeting of the Committee held this morning, it was unanimously resolved that you be invited to deliver such Eulogy. We now most cordially tender to you an invitation to favor our citizens with such an Address as you may deem suitable on such an occasion, and trust it will suit your convenience to accept the same. With regard to the time of such meeting, we would leave that with you, simply desiring that you will fix upon as early a day as will suit your on - convenience. We have the honor to be your ob't serv'ta, WM. N. SEYMOUR, DAVID ATWOOD, N. B. EDDY, B. F. HOPXINS. JULIUS T. CLARK. P X 0 (' E E D I N G S. To whieh the Chancellor replied as follows: MADISON, July 3, 1852. Gentlemen-I undertake the duty assigned me in your note of this morning, under extreme pressure of professional engagements, attending the close ot the collegiate year; and in the full confidence of an indulgent hearing from my fellow-citizens. I would name, subject to the approval of the Committee, Monday, the 19th inst., as a suitable (lay, for mnaking our united expression of grateful respect for the eminent public character aid services of the departed States- man. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obed't serv't, J. H. LATHIROP. To Wmr. N. SEYMOUR, J. T. CLARK and others, Committee. The Committee accordingly fixed upon Monday, the 19th day of July, for such ceremony; and the following named gentlemen were selected as officers of' the day: President-Gov. L. J. FARWELL. Vice-Presidents-Hon. A. BOTKIN, lion. E. BRIGHIAM, lion. J. C. FAIRCHILD, lion. N. B. EDDY and Hon. J. GRAY. Secretaries-BERTAH BROWN and B. F. HOPKINS. Mfarshals-Col. DAVI) ATWOOD, assisted by Wm. N. SEYMOuR and N. W. DEAN. In accordance with the arrangements, on the day specified, the stores and places of business of our city were closed and appro- priately hung in black, and a large concourse of citizens and strangers assembled at the Court House, and from thence marched in procession to the Assembly Hall at the Capitol. The meeting was called to order by His Excellency, Governor FARWELL, President of the day, and the exercises were announced in the following order: 1. Music by the Band. 2. Prayer bv Rev. Mr. LORn. 3. Music by the Choir. 4. Eulogy by Chancellor LATHROP. 5. Resolutions from the Committee. 6. Music by the Choir. 7. Benediction. The following are the resolutions presented by Col. A. L. COL- LNSS, Chairman of the Committee for that purpose, which were unanimously adopted: Whereas, It has pleased Divine Providence in His wise dispensation, to Ysmove from earth and from a sphere of great usefulness, HEINRY CLAY, of this Repnblie, and rhrse.s, we have met together on this occasi n to commingle our grief at the happening of this great and solemn, thou th P U0 CB ED ING S. not unlooked for, event, and in an appropriate manner to celbrate the occasion; therefore, Ilesolved, That the virtues and nol,le deeds of great and good men are peculiarly the property of the country where the records of their lives anti conduct are found, and that the American people cherish the name, fame and, public services of HENRY CLAY, whose decease our nation mourns with the profoundest grief. Resolved, That we meet on this interesting occasion not as partizans, polit- ical, religious or in any wise sectarian, but as patriots, philanthropists and Christians; that tho', with hearts devoted to the good of their country and the cause of common humanity, men do honestly differ as to means and measures, and in those differences become often enthusiastic and arrayed against each other, yet, where a long, useful and illustrious life, like that of HENRY CLAY'S, is ended, with it is ended the recollection of slight differ- ences and the i ecollections of good deeds and patriotic impulses, are grate- fully cherished by a generous and enlightened people. Resolved, That although HENRY CLAY had long been the pride of our Nation and his name has long been hailed with heart-swelling pride by every American-that although we have long been warned of his ap- proaching and certain dissolution, and that his declining days and hours were beautifully serene and peaceful, vet we were not ready for the sad intelligence of his decease. Resolved, That the fame pertaining to the illustrious name of HENRY CLAY is not of a party or section, but his name is associated with the im- portant events in the history of our common country for the last half cen- tury, and that his fame and glory which shall survive nations and powers, are the pride and property of the American Republic. Resolved, That while we as a people feel gratefnl to an indulgent Su- preme Ruler for many and continued great national blessings for a long time enjoyed, and especially for the long life and services of HENRY CLAY, lately deceased, and while we bow in humble and meek submission to His will in withdrawing him from us and acknowledge his judgments to be "true and righteous altogether" we yet mourn and lament his death as a national calamity. Mr. COLLINS offered the following resolution, which was unani- mously adopted: Resolved, That the proceedings on this occason, be prepared, under the direction of the Committee of Arrangements, and together with the Eulogy of Chancellor LATHROP, be published; and that a copy of the same be forwarded to the Governor of the State of Kentucky, and to each of the Senators in Congress from that State, to be by them communicated to the family of the deceased. B. F. HOPKINS, Secretary of Committee. C 0 B I E S P 0 N u E N C E. MADISON, July 27, 1852. SIR:-Pursuant to a resolutuion adopted on the occasion, com- memorating the funeral obsequies of the late HENRY CLAY at this place, instructing the Committee of arrangements to publish, in a suitable manner, the proceedings of that day; on behalf of the Committee, I would respectfully solicit a copy of the Eulogy, pronounced by you upon that occasion for publication. Hoping that you may grant our request, I am, dear Sir, your most obed't serv't, B. F. HOPKINS, Sec'y. To Hon. J. H. LATHROP, Madison, Wis. MADISON, July 27, 1852. SIR -I transmit to you, herewith, the manuscript referred to' in your note of this morning; which you will please convey to, the Committee, with my respects, and place at their disposal. I am, Sir, very truly, your friend and obed't serv't, J. H. LATHROP. To B. F. HoPKINs, Esq., Secretary, c. EULOGY. Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens: We have entered upon another year of the life-time of our Republic. Seventy-six years ago, those distinguished men, who were commissioned of God to shape the des- tinies of a great and free people, and through them, to commend the cause of civil liberty to the heart and the practice of the civilized world, declared that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be, free and independent States; and pledged to each other, life, fortune and sacred honor, in sup- port of the Declaration. Every recurring year of time is adding its testi- mony to the great fact, that the day we annually celebrate, constitutes the most distinguished epoch in the history of human freedom. In the magni- tude of the results suspended on the Declaration- ever developing, and never fully developed-that day stands alone; and as other nations, each in its turn, " in our light shall see light," and vindicate themselves into freedom, they will, year by year, come up and keep holy time with us, and if need be, re-kindle their fires at our altar. Happy, indeed, were those men, whose lot it was as signers of the declaration, to inscribe their names on a scroll which cannot die; to identify their lives E U L O G Y . with principles which shall live forever, and which are destined to become universal. Glorious, however, as was the Declaration, it was but the prologue to the drama-the first act of which was the trial by battle, to which it submitted the great cause of freedom and independence in the colonies. God's soldier, in the person of the only WASH- INGTON, ordained for the crisis-I speak it without disparagement of the choice spirits which were gathered around him-tried the cause, through all the perils of a seven year's contest, from the open- ing argument on the Heights of Dorchester, to the glorious summing up at Yorktown; and the judg- ment of Heaven was, that " the United Colonies are Free and Independent States." But how momentous are the responsibilites of the free and the independent! That judgment of Heaven which delivered our fathers from the house of bondage, committed to their keeping, and to that of their posterity, the lively oracles of freedom.- It bade them build a tabernacle for the ark of our liberties, the consecrated depository of the hopes of human freedom throughout the world. The second act, therefore, in our national drama, was the construction of the frame work of our go- vernment-the organization of our political system,. and the adjustment of its machinery to the safe ac- tion and the perpetual conservation of the principles of civil liberty, so successfully vindicated in the great battle of the revolution. How best " to form a more perfect union, estab- 8 E U L O G Y. lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity," was the problem to be solved by the convention of the framers of the constitution. Central in this group of sages, whose virtues had been disciplined in the school of the revolution, and in unenvied distinction above them all, stands the majestic figure of ourWAsIINGToN; not now God's soldier, but as the presiding officer of the conven- tion, the founder of our political institutions. The labors of the convention resulted in the form- ation of an instrument, compromising all antago- nist claims and interests, and organizing a national government which met with the unanimous assent of the several sovereignties, represented in its de- liberations; and the Constitution of the United States became thenceforth a fixed fact; the bond of our nationality; the arbiter of the mutual relations of the States; the rule of civil administration to the magistrate, and of civil obedience to the citizen. Occupying the Chair of State in the opening scene of the third act of our political drama, the ad- ministration, namely, of the government of the Union, we trace again the well-known lineaments of that divine man, the Father of his Country, the only WASHINGTON. Gracefully did he retire from public life, the mo- ment the Union was consolidated, the constitution animated with an undying vitality, and the with- drawal of his presence was compatible with the har- monious and beneficent action of our political sys- 9 E U L O G Y. tem. He adorned private life as the first citizen of the Republic,till his spirit passed from earth,leaving to rest under quiet shades of his own Mount Ver- non, all that remained of WASHINGTON-WASIIIING- TON! -"clarum et venerabile nomen Gentibus; et quod multum proderit urbi." Yes, his was a great and venerable name, and as long as memory endures, will it continue to reflect honor and renown on the character of the great Re- public. The biography of this extraordinary man, is the history of his country from the period of the colo- nial wars which resulted in the expulsion of France from North America, to the close of the 18th centu- ry; during which period our libertiess were achiev- ed, and its capabilities successfully tested, by an ad- ministration as distinguished for its prudence and its vigor, as it was spotless in its purity. When the sun of WASHINGTON set in glory to himself, but in sorrow and gloom to his afflicted country, men knew not of the dawning light of an- other luminary, which was to gild our political heavens for another half century, to shed upon our land a genial, a maturing, a saving influence. No one who has been conversant with the history of his country during that portion of the nineteenth century which has elapsed, will fail to recognize, in the lamented decease of the great statesman, whom the nation mourns, and to whose memory you have consecrated tois day, the extinction of one of the greater lights of the tqge, to E V L O G Y. I have not placed these two great men thus in jux- taposition, in order to institute either comparison or contrast; but I simply present each of them as the exponent of the age in which he lived. As inti- mately as WASIHINGTON was concerned in the great events connected with the foundation of the Repub- lic and its early organization, so thoroughly has the public career of HENRY CLAY been interwoven with every important movement connected with the sub- sequent administration of the government, the de- velopement of the resources, and the general pro- gress of the country. Although WVASHINGTcN has greatly the advantage of the distinguished statesman who has just passed away, in the official positions in which history pre- sents him, although the aspirations of Mr. CLAY were not unfrequently disappointed, and his policy overborne, still in grouping the historical persona- ges of our country for the first half of the nineteenth century, it must be admitted by all, that the great character of HENRY CLAY constitutes the principal figure. Although among the great men whose deeds make up the civil and military history of our Repub- lic during this eventful period, the force of circuns stances and the advantages of position, may have brought one and another, each in his turn and for a season, more distinctly within the range of the popular eye, a great central spirit, controlling, regu- lating, balancing, compromising, when it could not direct, is always discernable by the philosophical observer, who studies the current of events for the 11 :E U L ) a Y. sake of the lessons which our history is calculated to teach. In the grouping of the scene of the crucifixion, the artist has not placed the manly form of the Ro- man Centurion in the foreground, and made him oc- cupy the larger space on the canvas, because he constitutes the interest of the group. The divine Sufferer, although represented of diminished pro- portions in due perspective, is at once recognized as the principal figure, the central point of harmony and interest, in this admired production of art. So in the presentation of human events, it is not always the prominent and apparently successsful actor, although he may for a season take the popu- lar eye, and engross the popular attention, that is destined to leave on the face of society the deepest and most enduring impression. That consideration amono men which accrues to the possessor of mere power, whether it be due to physical force or to fortunate political position, is in its very nature, evanescent. It is sure to pass away with the generation that had anything to hope, or any thing to fear from its practical exhibition. The great qnalities of wisdom and beneficence, unac- companied, even by the advantages of the most ex- alted position, constitute the basis of a more endu- ring renown. It is for this reason that cotempora- ry judgments of distinguisned men, are so gener. allv corrected and amended, and sometimes reversed by posterity. Thus, although the public career of Mr. CLAY bas been signalized by an almost continued strug4 12 3 U L 0 G Y. gle with contending and often prevailing influen- ces, although the crowning evidence of a popular, appreciation of his eminent public services, was not awarded to him in life, it is pleasing to contemplate, after the storms of partizanship had subsided, the heart homage, which was everywhere paid to the illustrious Senator in his decline; the universal prayer that he might be raised from his bed of sickness and be still spared to his country; and most of all, the sense of bereavement with which the nation became consciotis of his desease, and the profound, unaffected sorrow, with which a great people have gathered around the bier of the pa- triot statesman. The distinguished individual, whose passing away has occasioned this demonstration of public feeling, owed nothing to hereditary advantages. lie was indebted to God for his high inborn endow- ments, to himself, for their culture and develope- ment, to his country for the magnificent theatre opened by her institutions for their exercise and their display. HENRY CLAY was born in Hanover county, in Virginia, on the 12th day of April, 1177. Hewas the son of a Baptist clergyman, the fifth of a family of seven children. By the death of his father, he became an orphan without patrimony, at the ten- der age of four years. His early education was only what his mother, burdened, with the care of a numerous family, and the defective neighborhood schools of lower Vir- ginia, could furnish him at that period. 13 E U L 0 G T. His active exertions were required in the common support of a dependent family; and there is abun- dant testimony that. he shunned no task imposed upon him, but performed the manual labors of his humble position, with all the alacrity and fidelity with which he afterwards met the high obligations of manhood and age. Whether as the millboy of the Slashes, or the errand boy of a small retail store in Richmond, he was gathering discipline for manhood and for age. His mother and family removed to Kentucky, leaving the subject of this sketch at the early age of fifteen, in the position of under clerk of the high court of chancery in Richmond. He did not, like many young persons in similar position, perform his clerical duties mechanically, and allow the mind to rin to waste, and the body to dissipation. He found himself surrounded by intellects of a higher order than heretofore, and by circumstances more conge- nial with the native instincts of his soul. His fidelity and promptitude, his quickness of parts, and that winning animation of manner, which marked the boy, as it afterwards marked the man, engaged the attention of Chancellor Wythe, who made him his amanuensis. In this confidential re- lation, he enjoyed the instructive conversation of his patron, by whom he was introduced to his friends, made free of his library and other helps to youthful improvement. During this fortunate period of his life, the de- fects of elementary instruction were repaired; and by conversation, reflection and a diligent reading of 14 E U L 0 G Y. choice English Literature, he not only acquired a knowledge of things, but a command of the verna- cular, which in perspicuity, copiousness, force and expressiveness, has rarely been compassed without the advantages of classical training. Surrounded by these influences, and enjoying these advantages, it is not strange that the law should have been adopted by young CLAY, as his profession-as the field in which he was resolved to reap independence and distinction, in the harvest of life. Parting with Chancellor Wythe, he spent a year in the office of an eminent counsellor, and was ad- mitted to practice at the age of twenty, in the year 1797, the concluding year of Washington's admin- istration. He repaired at once to Lexington, Kentucky, which he adopted as his future home, and where he has ever since resided, except when in the immedi- ate service of his country. The temper of Mr. CLAY, like that of other young men, was tried and disciplined by the peculiar anx- ieties of the interval between the admki88on and the _practie. His frank and honorable bearing, his conversational ability, and his hearty sympathies, attracted friendship and respect. But " confidence" is said, on high authority, to be a "plant of slow growth," and our youthful barrister must abide his time. It is worth while to allude to the critical incident which terminated this uncomfortable transition pe- 15 E U L OG Y. riod; a period which, to most professional men, has. few pleasant reminiscences. Mr. CLAY Was constant in his attendance on the meetings of the debating society of the town, but took no part in the discussions. On one occasion, lwhen a question, after debate, was about to be put upon its decision, he remarked to a by-stander that the argument did not seem to him to be exhausted. On that hint, it was immediately and unexpectedly announced that Mr. CLAY would speak to the ques- tion. Thus called out, he arose in much confusion, and began his speech, as did once. an eminent New England lawyer, his first prayer in the conference room, " Gentlemen of the jury." Assaying to amend his opening, his lips again refused to utter aught else but "Gentlemen of the jury." The crisis was to him eventful-he rallied-the buoyant consciousness of ability brought the understanding into position, and into vigor-every element of con- fusion vanished, and a happy and successful argu- ment terminated not only the debate, but his novi- tiate at the bar. From this period, Mr. CLAY may be regarded as in full practice, on equal terms with the eminent men, in the profession, in Kentucky, at that day. His power lay rather with the jury than with the court. His success in that quarter became so great and so uniform, that persons charged with crime, looked forward to his advocacy, as a sure precursor of acquital. It was not, perhaps, Mr. CLAY'S fault, that, by the power of his address, justice was now and then dew E U L O a Y. prived of its victim. The old maxim is, " Jdex damnnatar cum nocen8 abholvitur"-the Judge, not the Counsel, is condemned, when the guilty is let go unpunished. The facility with which he, as an advocate, grasp- ed the strong points of a case, approached intuition, and was as characteristic of the man, and as condu- cive to his successas were the clearness of narration anti the admirable power of expression, with which he presented them to the jury. It so happened that the question of public policy which first arrested the attention of Mr. CLAY, and commanded his action-although yet a private citi- zen of Kentucky, and scarcely past his majority- concerned the adoption of constitutional provisions for the gradual extinction of slavery. With all the earnestness of his generous nature, he urged through the press, and before the people, the measure, first adopted in Pennsylvania under the auspices of Dr. Franklin,and subsequently in other States,of declar- ing all children born of slaves after a certain date, to be free. He advocated the measure, as a return, in prac- tice, to those principles of human freedom, of which we make profession before the world, and which we alleged in justification of our separation from Great Britain-he urged it as just to the holder himself, and as eminently conducive to the progress of Kentucky in political power and material wealth. His views, though concurred in by a highly re- spectable minority, were overborne by numbers, . ) 1t E LJL (0 G; . and the evil and the wrong were perpetuated in the commonwealth. This instinctive love of human freedom continued as genial in the aged statesman, as it was far-seeing and self-sacrificing in the youth. During the can- vas for the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1849, Mr. CLAY placed before the people, in a long and able paper, his views on this subject, and urged upon them the importance of incorporating into their organic law, some specific provision for gradual emancipation, but in vain. Indeed, Mr. CLAY, in no act of his public life,, has swerved from his original position in this be- half. In debate, on the floor of Congress, relative to the admission of Missouri into the Union, he ex- pressed the uniform conviction of his life.- While urging, with great earnestness, the admission of the State without restriction, on the ground that the decision of the question belonged to Missouri alone, he made the memorable declaration, that were he a citizen of Missouri, he would never con- sent to a constitution tolerant of slavery.qo thorough was his disapprobation of the system. If the popularity of Mr. CLAY was endangered in Kentucky by his early pronouncement against slavery, it was abundantly re-established by the part he bore in the public denunciation of the alien and sedition laws. These enactments originated, no doubt, in the pa- triotic conviction, on the part of the administration that passed them, that strong measures were neces- sary to stem the tide of anarchy, which seemed to them to be rolling in upon us, from the other side 18 E IT L 0 G Y. of the Atlantic. These acts were repudiated by Mr. CLAY-and the heart of Kentucky was with him-as oppressive in their nature; and experience proved them to have been ill-advised, and unneces- sary as measures of precaution. This same noble sentiment of Mr. CLAY, jealous of every invasion of personal independence by pub- lic enactment, was afterwards awakened by the only attempt in our history, to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, which was made to enable the then Executive to arrest Col.. Burr, without the forms of law. The movement was ill-advised and unnecesa- ry; and if it had prevailed, would have been of evil example in the administration of our Repub- lic. The service of Mr. CLAY, in the Legislature of Kentucky, was comprised within the years 1803 and 1809; interrupted by an Executive appoint- ment to fill a vacancy in the Senate of the United States. He carried into the councils of his adopted State, that ardent love of civil liberty, that powerful ad- vocacy of individual right, with that self-sacrificing opposition to every needless or ostentatious exercise of naked power, which has illustrated his whole political career. His policy was conservative, although liberal.- A single instance of his love of order, and opposi- tion to empirical changes, even when the popular bias set strongly in that direction, must suffice. In the jealousy of everything which bore the English name, which characterized the popular feel- ing of the country, during the early part of the 19 20E U L 0 (G Y. present century,Kentucky was specially distinguish- ed. The English Language, bad any other been at command, would have been in imminent jeopar- dy. As it was, the English common law was a doom- ed system, because it was English. In their patriotic zeal, they forgot that the com- mon law was the people's own law-that it was the law of custom, and not of enactment, of privilege, and not of imposition-that it is of authority here, not because it is English, but because it is our own -that we brought it with us in the Mayflower- that we appealed to it, as our palladium, against the encroachment of king and parliament-that we fought and won the battle of indepen- dence, in vindication of the great principles of hu- man liberty and human justice embodied in it. the tide of popular fury had taken possession of the Legislature. Mr. CLAY found the victim already bound, the fires smoking on the altar, and Judge Lynch in the background, leering approbation of the movement. With a manly and eloquent de- fence of the common law, he rolled back the tide, and by the first of those timely coxpRomisEs by which his political life has been distinguished, he softened down the revolutionary project into the harmless enactment, that the decisions of English courts, since the declaration of independence, should not be of binding force in the courts of Kentucky. During most of the period of Mr. CLAY'S connec- tion with the State Legislature, he was Speaker of the House; and in that capacity, and on the floor, he did much for social order, and for the perma- 20 R IJ L ( ( T. nent improvement of the tone and character of that. noble comuonnwealth. After a brilliant and useful service,which brought him into thorough acquaintance and fellowship with the mind and temper of Kentucky, he took. final leave of her halls in 1809, at which period he was elected to the Senate of the United States, by the Legislature, to fill a vacancy having two years to run. On entering the Senate for the first time, in the session of 1806 '7 on appointment by the Gov- ernor, when barely of the constitutional age, he found the Senate equally divided on the question of building a bridge across the Potomac; those opposed to the structure denying the ccnstitution- ality of the measure, and of course opening up the whole subject of the power Of Congress to carry on or aid in, works of internal improvement. Much pains were taken by the enemies of the bill to make it agreeable to the young member to vote against it. His judgement, however, lay the other way; and he took ground on the subject at that time, which he uniformly mantained by voice and by vote, during his connection with the national councils, that wherever this power was subsidiary to powers expressly granted, whether over the com- merce of the country, over its postal arrangements, over its military defences,or over the administration of the national domain, its exercise was strictly con- stitutional, and a mere question of expediency. This doctrine, has, in practice at least, been acqui. esced in, with more or less latitude, by majorities 21 E U L OG Yl. in perhaps every Congress. But not unfrequently has a legislative barque, richly freighted with local hopes, foundered on some unlucky veto, or, per- chance, some ill-omened platform, which it was so unfortunate as to encounter, and has gone to the bottom with its ill-assorted cargo of appropriations for improvements. It is obvious that this is a subject of paramount importance-the mind of the country has grappled with it-the practice of the country has admitted the power to construct works of conceded national utility, with the caution that its exercise should be guided by discrimination, by judgement, by equity. The theoretial question appears to be still open, whether an improvement bill may embrace a sys- tem, or should be restricted to a particular project. The extent and the mode in which the resources of the country will be applied to the improvement of rivers and harbors, and to the means of inland communication, will therefore depend on the vary- ing opinions of successive administrations. On the entrance of Mr. CLAY again into the Sen- ate in 1809, our difficulties with England had come to wear a warlike aspect; and measures were under discussion, looking to the revival of our navy, and the preparation of it for the emergency. A motion had been made, to the effect that, in the purchase of naval stores, preference should be given to arti- cles of home production. A debate was thus open- ed up, relative to the policy of so framing our rev- enue laws, and our commercial system generally, as to render material aid and encouragement to home manufactures. 1)'22 E U L 2 G Y. Mr. CLAY was at once drawn into the discussion, and took decided ground, as he had before done in the Legislature of Kentucky, in favor of the prin- ciple of protection-a position which he continued uniformly to maintain through evil report and good report, for the residue of his public life. During this term of service in' the Senate, the question of the re-charter of the first bank of the United States came up for discussion. Created in 1'Z91, its life was about to terminate in 1811. The constitutionality and expediency of the re-charter were argued with eminent ability in the affirmative by Mr. Crawford, then a member of the Senate from Georgia. The voice of the Senator from Ken- tucky was heard in opposition to the measure on both these points; and in accordance with the sen- timents of Mr. Madison at that time, a large ma- jority of the Senate refused to renew the charter. It is matter of history, that five years thereafter, a second National Bank was chartered with the hearty co-operation and the able advocacy of seve- ral of the same eminent men, who were consenting to the death of the first. Mr. Madison recommended the measure, and signed the bill. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Dallas, corroborated the views of the President. Mr. Calhoun, as chairman of the com- mittee to which that part of the message and ac- companying documents had been referred, made a voluminous report in favor of the measure, accom- panied by the bill, which after thorough debate, was passed, and the second Bank of the United States commenced its legal existence in 1816. 20" E U L 0 G Y . This bill received the considerate and decided support of Mr. CLAY; and his steady persistence, in the policy which then prevailed-his mighty, though unavailing, efforts to right what he deemed the wrongs of the institution-his ineffectual strug- gle for its re-charter-his renewed effort, during a subsequent administration, to restore to the country the same financial policy, while they exhibit the energy of a great intellect, leave no doubt of a pro- found conviction, on his part, that the policy he ad- vocated was both constitutional and expedient. This was the only important subject of public policy, in reference to which, his action at different periods of his life, was at variance with itself. The experience of tWe country, from 1811 to 1816, and a re-examination of the subject, wrought a perma- nent change in his convictions, which he frankly admitted, and the entire sincerity of which no rea- sonable man, however much he might differ with him on the main question, ever doubted. On the termination of his senatorial service, Mr. CLAY was returned to the House of Representatives, from the Fayette district, in which he resided.- He took his seat in 1811, and was immediately cho- sen Speaker of that body-a post to which he was regularly re-elected by every successive House of which he was a member; and for which his manly bearing, his ready apprehension, his distinct and commanding utterance,and his thorough knowledge of parliamentary law, eminently qualified him. During all this period of congressional service, both in the Senate and in the House, he entered 4 I U L 0 4X . heartily and effectively into the support of that se- ries of measures adopted during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison, to vindicate our neutral rights against the encroachments and assumptions of the great belligerents, on the theatre of Europe- an warfare. When it became evident that negotiation at the court of St. James was unavailing to the redress of our grievances; when the power of legislation had been exhausted in the interposition of peaceable measures of redress; when neither embargo nor non-intercourse availed to the revocation of the orders in Council, to the abandonment of the right of search, the impressment of our seamen, and the confiscation of our merchant vessels, with their car- goes, while in prosecution of a lawful trade to the continent, Mr. CLAY urged upon the President the necessity of an appeal to arms; and did more per- haps than any less gifted man could do, to prepare the spirit of the people for the emergency, which he saw to be inevitable. When the war came, and had opened disastrously to our arms, his clarion voice was again potent to awaken the patriotism of the country, to revive its pristine sense of glory-to cheer on his countrymen to victory, under the lead of Harrison, Brown, Scott, Macomb and Jackson; and to the unexpected renown of a series of brilliant actions on the Ocean and the Lakes. When the progress of the war had brought both parties to a better appreciation of the blessings of peace, under the mediation of Russia, negotiations were opened at Ghent, which terminated ir a treaty 4 6 tU L O T. of peace and amity with Great Britain, on terms highly honorable to our arms. The American Commission, composed of Adams, Gallatin, Clay, Bayard and Russell, was one of dis- tinguished ability and proved a safe depositary of the interests and the honor of the country. As no paper passed from the commission till after full discussion, and amendment if needful, all results are to be taken to be the united action of the body; still it is safe to say,that a mind like Mr. CLAY'S, clear in its convictions, firm in its purI)oses, powerful in expression and fertile in expedieits, must have car- ried great weight in council; while his address, his conversational powers, the geniality of his social character, were brought into full Iplay and into suc- cessful exercise in his personal intercourse with the members of the British Commission; and had its influence in the manifest relaxation of the arrogant tone in which they had opened the negotiation. That service, and his eminently able state papers, while conducting the State Department, furnish ev- idence, if indeed evidence were needed, that he possessed diplomatic talent of the very first order. The ratification of the treaty of Ghent was hailed by the American people with every demonstration of joy, as a fitting termination to a war, waged in vindication of the national honor, and in defence of the rights of person and property. In anticipation of Mr. CLAY'S return from Europe he was again elected to represent the Lexington dis- trict, in the Congress which was to assemble in De- cember, 1815. He was called to the speakership by an almost unanimous vote, and continued to occupy 26 x6u 1, U . that position, without much interruption till he was called to the cabinet of Mr. Adams in 1825. The peace found the finances of the country in a- state of great exhaustion, both public and private. United States stocks had fallen to 6(0 cents onthe dollar. The banks had advanced largely to gov- ernment, and on government account, as well as to the merchants, and being unable to make collections, had suspended specie payments; and that univer- sal lassitude and depression throughout all business operations, was felt, which naturally follows large emissions of public stocks, and a sudden withdrawal of that artificial and unhealthy stimulus of the mo- ney market. In addition to this, during the period of non-in- tercourse and of war, capital had been largely at. tracted into those branches of manufacturing pro- duction, which were demanded by the public exi- gencies, and the domestic wants of the country; and by the opening of the ports all these interests were exposed to utter ruin. Under such conditions there was a call for wise and beneficent statesmanship. The policy and ne- cessity of protective laws were generally acquiesced in, and under the lead of Mr. Lowndes, a distin- guished member from South Carolina, that policy may be considered as distinctly introduced in 1816. Direct taxation was abandoned; the support of the government and the payment of the interest and an annual installment of the principal of the na- tional debt were charged upon revenues derived from duties and the sales of the national domain. In the discussions on the state of the country, Z U L 9 1E and in all measures tending to the restoration of credit and confidence, Mr. CLAY sustained a distin- guished part, and was here, as in every cause he espoused, the animating spirit. On the occasion of the admission of Missouri in- to the Union, the first distinct attempt was made to apply the principle of the ordinance of '87 to all subsequent acquisitions of territory. A clause was inserted in the bill for the admission of that state, excluding slavery therefrom, and a state con- stitution conformable thereto was made a condition of admission. Missouri rejected the condition- Virginia through her general Assembly formally resolved to sustain Missouri; and angry demonstra- tions were made throughout the length and breadth of the land. The question was thrown back upon Congress, at the opening of the next session during a temporary absence of Mr. Clay. The discussion was conducted with a bitterness of feeling and expression, unequalled in the annals of our previous legislation, and the integrity of the Union seriously threatened. When brave hearts began to despair of the re- public, the return of Mr. CLAY to the House was hailed as the harbinger of conciliation. Under his auspicious lead, contending claims were coM- PROMISED, the state was admitted without restric- tion, and slavery forever debarred from that larg- er portion of our then existing national domain, lying north of Lat. 360 30 the southern boundary of Missouri; the storm subsided, the angry waves were hushed into calm, and the ship of state, all andamaged, held on the even tenor of her way. 28 E V L 0 G T. As the friend of human liberty, the struggles of classic Greece, and of the Spanish colonies on our own continent, for independence, could not be an indifferent spectacle to Mr. CLAY. During the last term of Mr. Monroe's Adminis- tration, the halcyon days of our republic, when ev- ery storm had passed from our horizon, and the voice of partizanship was no more heard in our land, it is a graceful episode in the life of the dis- tinguished pacificator, that he sent abroad the sym- pathies of his great soul, to speak words of encour- agement, of hope, and admonition, to those whom he saw to be striving to walk in our light, and, through the perils of revolution, to come into the enjoyment of the benefits of freedom. Although the speeches he pronounced on these topics pointed to no intervention inconsistent with our national obligations, yet abounding in noble and just sentiments, they furnish a beautiful chap- ter in the life of the great man-a polished gem, which we should be loath to lose from the rough setting of the political events which preceded and followed it. During the administration of Mr. Adams, Mr. CLAY occupied the highest seat in the executive council, and filled up his official term with a labori- ous supervision of the duties of his office, both for- eign and domestic. The temper of the times, and the circumstances attending Mr. CLAY'S advent into office, exposed his administration of the State De- partment to the severest scrutiny; and it is great praise to say, that no shade of suspicion was ever rast on the very great ability, the fidelity, the pa- 29 E: U L I) G 0 . triotism, the wisdom and the purity, by which the conduct of the office was uniformly characterized; no charge of venality ever passed the lips of man; no imputation of nepotism ever tarnished the fair fame of the Secretary, in the dispensation of the patronage of the Department. On the accession of Gen. Jackson to the Presi- dency, Mr. CLAY was returned to the Senate; and although with unwavering consistency,he continued to defend such of the great measures with which his political life had been identified, as were out of favor with the existing administration, yet he in- dulged in no factious opposition to its policy. When South Carolina had nursed her wrath at the protective system up to the point of rebellion, under the thin guise of peaceable nullification of a law of Congress, and the' brave old chief at the head of the government had uttered his immortal sentiment, "THE UNION-IT MUST BE PRESERVED," Mr. CLAY took the lead in the advocacy and adop- tion of those measures which were deemed necessa- ry to enable the Executive to meet and to crush the first overt act of resistence to the national au- thority. But this was not all. Conscious of the truth, which all history teaches, that it is difficult to heal the wounds of a republic, when civil blood has once been shed, and resolved again to save the country from a calamity so portentous, he matured and brought in his second COMPROMISE bill, which pro- vided for a small annual reduction of the tariff of duties, for ten successive years; leaving the subject open, at the end of that time, to re-adjustment. E U L 0 G T. By this policy, the protected branches of busi- ness were rescued from the catastrophe of sudden and radical changes; the pride of South Carolina was saved; and serenity woul d again have been re- stored to our skies, had not other monsters inter- vened to darken our political horizon. In the stirring events of that stormy period, and in the palmiest days of the American Senate, Mr. CLAY bore a conspicuous l)art. His voice was oft heard above the din of the political elements; and his particular position on every question, may be said, with much truth, to have been the principal point of interest, to both friends and foes. The land distribution bill, the removal of the de- posites, the resolutions of censure, the expunging of the same, the death of the monster, the deposite banks, the sub-treasury, repudiation, suspension, log cabins, and Texan annexation are the "Hydras, Gorgons, anrd Chimeras dire," which still haunt our political memories; and whose ghosts are still sometimes conjured up, to assist in the construction of a platform. That a man like Mr. CLAY, ardent, frank, impul- sive, conscious of the purity of his motives, should, in the asperities of a political warfare indicated by these hard names,have arrayed against him enough of the elements of opposition to debar him firom the chief magistracy, in the canvass of '44, is a fact that can be accounted for. But in the hour of defeat, he was anything but a victim. A sentiment of more thorough apprecia. 31 2E U 1, 0 G T. tion of his eminent public services, was feeling af- ter the national heart. The generous emotions were again in the ascendant-and thenceforward it has been profoundly true, that he, the orator, the statesman, the patriot, the observed of nations, has been, in very deed, the "first in the hearts of his countrymen "-the prince of the Senate has been the first citizen of the republic. Mr. CLAY had retired from the public councils: but was not long permitted to linger in the shades of Ashland. As a result of our Mexican conquests, the old controversy i elative to the extension of the area of slavery was revived in all its pristine bitterness. The difficulty seemed beyond solution. Rebellion was in the hearts, and disunion on the tongues of men. At the call of his country, "the old man elo- quent " resumed his seat in the Senate, and the swanlike note of the divine man, last and sweetest, was raised again for CO-IPRO3ISE, conciliation and union; and a third time did he merit the civic crown, ob patriam1 eervatarn, for his country saved. And now, full of years and full of honors, ad- monished by the decay of his physical powers that the day of his departure was at hand, in thanks- giving to God that he had been again made an hon- ored instrument of his providence in the rescue of his country, he might well have adopted the lan- guage of the good man of old, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen THY SalvationY' 3's EULOGY. But no! one service more must the aged patri. arch render to the country that he has loved so long and so well. He rises from the bed of his last sickness, to give audience to that wonderful man, who, with an in- tellect massive in its proportions, and passing rich in its garnered resourses, is bearing the plaint of fal- llen Hungary throughout our land, and asking for material aid to retrieve her fallen fortunes. The moment is one of imposing interest._ The genius of European liberty is in the presence of him who has served longest in the temple of American freedom, and can best express the mind of the divinity which dwells within. He tenders the welcome of the country to the illustrious stran- ger, and her broad lands to the occupation of his exiled countrymen. He assures him of the pro- found sympathy of the country for bleeding Hunga- ry, and for suffering liberty every where: but re- minds him that it is the mission of this great repub- lic to teach mankind by the force of its bright ex- ample-not to waste. its substance and its good name, by unseasonable and unavailing intervention in foreign lands-but to increase its moral power, by perfecting its own institutions, and developing its resources; so that when the shock of despotism shall come, if come it must, we may be able to fight the great battle, and win it, for the benefit of mankind. The aged patriot thus aptly terminates a life-long service of his country. His work is indeed done, and well done, and he has nothing to do but to die As the physical powers, day by day, lose their vio'or 33 E U L O G Y. and vitality, the germ of an immortal life is develop- ing in the soul. Christianity tenders its consolations, its media- tion and its hopes. He finds them all congenial with his spiritual nature, and he believes them to be di- vine. The spirit of the illustrious man passes peace- fully and sweetly away-and a sense of orphanage lies heavily at the nation's heart, as when the Father of his country was taken from earth! WASmNGTON! CLAY !-What immortal memo- ries are garnered up in these great names ! Their renown is a nation's treasure-their lives, a nation's history. The ashes of the dead belong to Kentucky-to Lexington-to Ashland. His name belongs not to Kentucky, but to the great republic-to that coun- try whose lament is now abroad on the breeze: "Art thou, my noblest born, forever fled And am I doomed to unavailing grief When treason's storms assailed this aching head, Thy cheering voice did yield me sweet relief. Ab, now, for solace whither shall I go No more thy soothing tones my anguish cheers, Thy sparkling eyes with smiles no longer glow, My hopes to cherish, and to lay my fears: 'Tis meet that I should mourn-flow forth afresh my tear" NoTE.-In some of the copies of this edition, the reader will insert after the word "achieved" on the 10th page,the words "our constitution established.' 34